One Choice
by lizzytish-lover of everything8
Summary: When you're trapped in a alternative reality in that you's body with no recollection of the other universe except this distinct feeling that something is very, very wrong, what do you do? Oliver, Laurel, Diggle, Thea, and Barry are gonna have to find out. Worm Hole consequences can be good and bad.
1. Choices Can Change

Some say one choice can decide a million lives.

The choice that brought Oliver and his friends to where they are is difficult to say. Laurel Lance would argue that is was Oliver's choice to cheat on her with her sister that made them the way they were. Roy Harper thought it was Robert Queen's idea to join the Undertaking that everything hinged on. John Diggle would claim that it was Malcolm Merlyn's decision to sink the Queen's Gambit that changed fate. Thea Queen, despite her entire existence counting on this, thought that it was when her mother made the choice to cheat on her husband with Thea's father. Felicity Smoak would say it was yet again Oliver's, when he decided to become the vigilante. But she still did not know the full story, that that wasn't a choice, but a requirement. Because of this Oliver Queen is convinced it was the moment he killed for the first time. When he took the life out of someone without remorse that turned him into what he was today.

Even Malcolm Merlyn was incorrect. He was convinced that it was his choice to leave his son to go to Nanda Parbat that the future had rested on.

But he was wrong.

They were all wrong.

It was the most ridiculous and seemingly insignificant to most decision in their lives that created it. Danny Brickwell's choice to murder Rebecca Merlyn that night in the Glades would be the catalyst for the murder and rescue of hundreds of people, maybe thousands .

…But what if that choice was altered? What if that moment in time turned out differently? How would the world be different if he decided not to kill Rebecca Merlyn?

 **Central City,**

 **4 months after Ra's al Ghul's attacks in Starling City,**

 **4 months after Barry tried to close the worm hole**

Oliver had to admit, it felt good to be back to crime fighting, however brief.

Barry had called yesterday about a big problem in Central City. Some sort of worm hole opening up again and people pouring in from alternate realties? Caitlin had given them the science talk, but it had basically gone straight over his head. He remembered something about residual energy from the original worm hole at opened 4 months ago but was quickly closed. He was a little more preoccupied by the fact that they had just taken down an evil version of Caitlin, a story that Felicity had folded at when Barry pleaded his case to her about needed all hands on deck. Felicity and he had been greeted by the Central City squad as well as the Arrow team, including his little sister, for the first time in an all out Meta situation. Cisco then directed the entire group to the growing worm hole in an abandoned factory outside of the city and they were off.

That's the short version of how Oliver ended up back in his Arrow costume in the middle of combat. It was annoyingly comforting to be fighting beside Laurel and Diggle again with Felicity screaming worriedly in his ear and the nagging sensation of his arrow supply depleting.

Diggle was apparently in the field fulltime now, he knew from the periodic rundowns he had gotten from Thea during the months he and Felicity were on vacation. He had, according to his sister, taken on the indentify of 'Guardian' and had a costume to boot. Although Oliver wasn't sure how he felt about the costume, the name was fitting. Diggle showed up dressed in blue Kevlar pants, a black shirt, a blue armored chest plate, a gold helmet, and gold pieces on his arms to soften the strain on his hands when he punched something.

Thea too had become a named hero. She was Speedy, as a homage to her childhood nickname. She claims she took the name by freewill, but everyone knows Oliver practically forced it. Her costume was nice and very 'Thea'. It was red, like Roy's, but the similarities stop there. She wore a long yellow cloak with a hood and mask to conceal her identity. On her chest was a yellow arrow symbol, not unlike the League of Assassins, but different. When Cisco had asked earlier she said, "You have your lightning bolt, why shouldn't the Arrows have their own symbol." She gained an approving nod from Felicity and a weary head shake from Diggle. She didn't only have a bow and quiver, but sword strapped to her back, and, knowing Malcolm Merlyn, probably had dozens of knives tucked in all sorts of places.

So here they were fighting an army of people from another dimension as well troops from a secret part of the US government that wanted complete access to the worm hole.

Everything looked like it was going great. Oliver was surprised by how well Laurel and Thea were holding their own, well, more by how well Laurel was holding her own. Part of him was proud of them all. It was because of him, he thought, that they had all ended up this way, saving people's lives together,.(though we have already determined that their fate was decided this way long before Oliver became the vigilante).

"Okay, take a left and then a right." Felicity instructed from the control of room of S.T.A.R. Labs. Although neither would admit it, both Felicity and Oliver missed this feeling, but both were terrified that the other would want to continue to fight crime after this assignment.

After following Felicity's guidelines the five heroes came to the door that led directly to the main room of the factory where the 'inter-dimensional subatomic pathway', in Caitlin's words, had been opened.

"All of you need to be incredibly careful. One false step and you could fall in." Caitlin said

"And we end up in the universe those crazy guys came from? No. Thank. You." Thea said.

"No," Cisco said over the comm. "There is no way to predict what universe you end up in. Or what time. The gateway's destination changes without warning. But for all we know that could lead to the future or the past when you go in."

Diggle grumbled. "Why couldn't the Legends take this one?"

No one answered, maybe because they didn't hear, maybe because there was no answer, or maybe the door had just ripped off its hinges.

And they were being sucked in.

Fast.

Oliver immediately grabbed Thea's hand and the side of the wall. Diggle, who was the closest to Laurel gripped her hand and took the other side of the wall, while Barry started to run around the worm hole to try and close it. But Laurel's hand was sweaty and she fell into the vortex first. Diggle and Oliver glanced at each other and then at Thea. She nodded and both men let go of the door frame they were clinging.

Barry watched as his partners fell away into some other reality. He heard Felicity shrieking for Oliver and Joe yelling at him to get out of there in his ear. The last thing he heard before he lost control and fell was Iris telling him to be strong.

And then he was gone.

Into the void.

 **The night of Rebecca Merlyn's death, 1992**

 **…** **But not**

Danny Brickwell crept along the alleyway, eyeing his prey. Rebecca Merlyn, the wife of Malcolm Merlyn, the billionaire CEO of Merlyn Global, stood alone on a street. She had a mirror out, checking her million dollar hair cut and make-up. He knew she worked in the Glades, trying to bring her wealth and fame higher by helping the poor, weak, lower-class citizens.

He scoffed quietly at her manicure and the diamond ring on her finger. He needed the money, her reminded himself. Danny stood tense, still glaring at the women. His hand was halfway to his coat pocket, ready to grab the gun inside it, when suddenly he remembered the women had a young son, seven, maybe eight.

When Danny was a boy he lost his mother. It was one of the worst experiences of his life. He couldn't make the boy be alone. No matter who Rebecca's husband was she had a child that should not be alone with only Malcolm Merlyn to raise him.

So the man who in another life would have been called "The Brick" crept off. Later that night he took another victim, but he would never get over the sympathy he felt for Merlyn's son, he would never become as ruthless as he could have been and stayed a low-class thug. But he didn't regret it, to have a father like that…well it was lucky that because of Danny the kid still had mother.

But it was also because of Danny that that night another boy lost his mother, a one year old baby.

Three years later that baby's life would be cut short when his father would beat him to death after a night of drinking. There was no mother there to remind the father about the consequences if he killed the boy, not that she would have cared. That baby would never get the life he was meant to have if Rebecca Merlyn had died that night. All the people that boy touched would remain unchanged.

And it only got worse from there.

 **So now Barry, Oliver, Thea, Diggle, and Laurel are all in an alternate reality. If it wasn't clear they're stuck in the reality were Rebecca Merlyn didn't die. My version of the way the multiverse works is very different than the comics (I think, never read them) and different than the TV will probably go.**

 **Please Review**

 **Lizzy**


	2. Everything is Wrong

**ARROW**

Oliver woke up in an unfamiliar bed. Wait, why was that not weird for him? And this bed wasn't unfamiliar at all, it was his bed. It was his bed, his apartment, his…

Laurel?

Okay, why is that weird? He had been waking up to Laurel for years now, ever since they moved in together more than 8 years ago. She was awake beside him; she always woke up before him.

That happens every day.

Laurel had her tablet on her lap, but she wasn't getting a head start on work like she did every morning, she was staring at the big fat ring on her finger.

Wait, a second…ring?

"You not rethinking that, are you?" He said automatically.

Yes, ring. They were engaged. He finally popped the question a little less than a year ago. They were getting married in a week.

She jumped, not used to him being up so early, but quickly recovered with a smile. "Nope, all good," Laurel leaned for a kiss. "just shocked that it's already only a week away."

When their lips touched Oliver was hit with this terrifying wave of _Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!_ As they came up for air he caught a glimpse of her face, just as shocked as his must be. But she covered it quickly with her poker face, perfected over the years of being a model.

And…there it was again.

He shook it off like he had the other sensation, stood up, and stretched. Oliver hobbled into the bathroom off of their room. He found himself in front of a mirror, looking down at his chest…that's where Laurel found him…5 minutes later…still staring at his chest.

Why the hell is this so weird? Why was he expecting to see a…he didn't even know.

"Y-you okay?" Laurel asked him uncertainly.

He composed himself and grinned at her. "Yeah, fine," He bobbed his head to the shower. "Go on, I'll take the second one. Slow day at work today. Dad won't expect me until later."

Even Dad and work felt strange. He worked with his father at QC, but he managed the Applied Sciences division. His dad deemed him worthy of this after he graduation from Princeton with full honors. That was normal. This morning was normal. The only, _possible,_ difference was he was getting married in a week and maybe, _maybe_ , he was nervous.

That's it! Nerves! It was just nerves! That makes perfect sense!

 **BLACK CANARY**

Laurel wasn't alone.

That was the first sign.

In bed next to her was an unidentified male and on her finger was an unidentified weight.

Holy crap!

Engagement ring, Engagement ring!

Slow down for a minute.

She had been wearing that ring for a year and she was going to add another to the collection in week when she and Ollie _finally_ tied the knot.

OLIVER.

That was the unidentified male in bed with her. But that wasn't in the slightest unnatural. They had been dating for like 15 years goddamit! What was wrong with her?

"You're not rethinking that, are you?" A soft voice asked from beside her…too soft.

She jumped. Why was she jumping? She was the freakin…super model?

"Nope, all good, just shocked that it's already only a week away." She lied. Laurel thought that all of her doubts could be healed with a kiss, but when it happened things just spiraled. When they pulled apart she could just see a hint of confusion on his face.

Damn, when did he get so good at his poker face?

She laughed internally probably where he learned everything else, the…Princeton?

She shook her head and turned on her tablet. For some incredibly strange reason she felt slightly horrified by what she saw.

'Merlyn Global makes big deal with Chinese manufacturers, boosting the stock market all on its own.'

'Palmer Tech goes under.'

'The Glades "Second Chance" program gone too far?'

But…that's not weird. She knew the story behind each one. She had known Merlyn Global's CEO Malcolm Merlyn her entire life through Tommy, Oliver's best friend. She didn't like Tommy very much; he was a little too boring by her standards.

Fight through the weirdness…

But Tommy was nice enough and his mom was great. She was heading up Second Chance and had been for more than 10 years. Laurel knew the reasoning behind the 'gone too far' thing. Word had recently come out that by Second Chance pushing big companies to hire more Glades residents in office jobs as opposed to factories; those big companies started hiring Glades residents over much more qualified applicants. Oliver had complained more than once about this completely incapable person in the IT department. He was loud and annoying and knew nothing about computer programming other than how to turn it off and on, a thing some of the other members of the IT department didn't even know. He, and many others, had been hired during Second Chance's last push for better jobs for Glades residents, five years ago, back in '09. ( **A/N: Wink, wink)**.

As for the Palmer Tech going under, Ray Palmer, CEO, had recently been married. And in that time he had slacked off from his duties as CEO, something the tabloids failed to mention, but was completely justifiable in her mind. She expected once their honeymoon stage was over Palmer tech would be back leading the stock market.

After clearing her thoughts she got up to meet Oliver in the bathroom. Where he was, as I said, staring at his torso, like he was missing something.

"Y-you okay?" Did she just stutter? She doesn't stutter.

"Yeah, fine, go on, I'll take the second one. Slow day at work today. Dad won't expect me until later."

She nodded.

Man this is going to be a weird day.

 **SPEEDY**

Mia Dearden woke up that morning in an uncomfortable bed.

Mia?

Her name was…Mia.

Okay, that's not supposed to be weird.

And her uncomfortable bed was the sucky mattress she had been sleeping in for 2 years since she got free from foster care.

And…that's what she got for her 18th birthday, free from foster care and a dead end job at Queen Consolidated. She was in the IT department, not something she enjoyed or even knew much about, but it had been QC turn to use the Second Chance program to hire and IT was, at the time, the only available spot. She exactly hate the gig. It wasn't what she wanted in life, but it worked out.

But that's not her job…but that is her job.

Mia was hit again with the feeling of everything in her life being wrong. Yes, her life was wrong. This entire situation was very, very wrong. If her mother hadn't given her up when she was a baby her life could be incredibly different, or not. Maybe her mother was a drunk that's only good decision was giving up her so that Mia might have a better life.

And she guesses life could be worse.

She crawled out of her bed and into the kitchen to put on a cup of subpar coffee on the stove. The job allowed for a not half bad apartment, by Glades standards. But most of her paycheck was put aside for college. She hadn't had enough money when she graduated and due to switching schools every year she didn't have good enough grades to get a scholarship.

And she wanted to go to college…right?

What the hell? What was with all this second guessing life. She had lived like this her entire life. There was no "then" to compare it too.

After a shower she got dressed from the left side of her closet, the work side. She grabbed a half eaten bagel from the fridge, her lunch, and her second cup of coffee. Mia left the tiny apartment with a confused smile. Her bus ride to the nicer part of town was filled with people in the exact same situation as she, Second Chancers, the 1%er nicknamed them.

Mia walked into the lobby of QC and came to an elevator. Due to her little mental breakdown this morning she was running a little late and had the elevator all to herself…or so she thought.

"Wait, hold the elevator!" A man called and she complied, not knowing that that man was Oliver Queen himself, the CEO's son and next in line for the position.

When he stepped over the threshold he first instinct was to laugh at him and make a snide joke for his money suit...but that doesn't make any sense. She wouldn't do that to anyone, let alone her boss. What she did in real life was turn red and start sifting through her bag, not really looking for anything.

Mr. Queen on the other hand continued to stare at the girl, having got a similar feeling of recognition that she got. He knew her, but could not for the life of him place her. He shook his head and chalked it up to the rest of his off morning.

 **THE GUARDIAN**

Just up stairs, after a royally annoying morning, John Diggle, lowly security guard of Queen Consolidated, tried to piece together the dream he had had. Diggle retained his dreams often, a talent, he had learned, not many people had.

Dig remembered a long pathway and four people running alongside him. He remembered feeling this amazing push of pride at his companions, and a particular brotherly love for the man in green. They were all in costumes, some sort of campy, but others were tasteful and not so bad.

He recognized three, Oliver Queen, his fiancé Laurel Lance, and an IT girl that worked at QC. But none of them he had ever talked to. The other was moving too fast for Diggle to seeing his face clearly.

They came to a door that flung open. He took Lance's hand but she slipped. After a look of annoyance from Queen and a head bob from M-mia? That could not be right. It just didn't sound correct. Whatever… they let go and almost immediately he woke up. The dream was more vivid than usual.

During his lunch break he walked down to the cafeteria with the Big Belly Burger he had picked up earlier that day. The girl, Mia, from his dream was sitting by herself eating a PB&J, staring at the crappy bread and wondering why the heck she was eating that low-class of a meal.

Diggle walked over to her, gave her a smile, and asked to sit down. She nodded but continued to look at her sandwich.

"Hi, I'm John Diggle. I don't think we've ever met." He started.

"Mia Dearden." She said quietly and took another bite.

"You don't sound too sure of that." He chuckled, trying to be lighthearted.

She looked up, "I've had a bit of a bad day." Mia seemed ever more familiar than in the dream. She tilted her head. "D-do I know you? I just feel like we've talked more than the courtesy nod in the hallway, actually I've been getting that feeling a lot lately." She muttered.

"I've just got one of those faces." He lied.

"So…security guard, eh?"She said.

"Yeah. Best I could get after five terms in Iraq." That was a lie too. Honestly, he was also a reserve operative of A.R.G.U.S. He preferred not to be completely identify as a member, but he was an old friend of Waller from years ago. He hardly agreed with A.R.G.U.S.'s methods, but they worked well enough.

"I'm sorry." Mia said genuinely. This felt weirdly comfortable for both parties.

There was that word again, "weirdly", "strangely", "familiar", that was all Mia and John had been thinking all day.

The rest of the talk was more lighthearted, the weather, the new movie that just came out.

The world was messed up for both today, but when they were together it felt like they had been doing it for years, it was comfortable.

Mia felt like she knew him like she knew Mr. Queen.

 **Next chapter should be up pretty soon, I'm on a role now that its summer! Happy 4th of July!**

 **Again, please review**

 **Lizzy**


	3. Thea or Mia

**Speedy**

The day after Mia's first strange one was just as crazy, so many urges to do things she would never do in any other circumstances took her by surprise. Like yesterday she really wanted to go to a Night Club, even though she had avoided them her entire life. This morning she had thought about practicing training, even though the only training she had ever done in her life was for her short time at school outside the city for track and that hadn't lasted very long. When she went out to get something to eat last night she felt like going into the Queen Consolidated Steel Factory for some reason. The last of the workers had already left and just the fact that the factory was operational was wrong in her mind.

It was Saturday now and after grabbing breakfast at her favorite bagel place she decided to go down to the cemetery. An old friend of hers, Sin, had overdosed a few weeks ago and Thea wanted to pay her respects. The two had been completely different but both had been landed in foster care.

Of course Sin had remembered her parents, well, just dad. He had been good dad, but was a pilot and one day didn't come back from a flight over the Pacific. Sin spiraled early on. For a while Mia was the only one keeping her from overdosing or going a crazy and robbing a store or something. But they grew apart and next thing she knew she heard from a friend of a friend that Sin was gone.

Mia was different than most foster kids. While others were drug users or alcoholics from their hard life, Mia was always trying to be a straight shooter, at least partly.

She walked past the graves, glancing keenly at each one with a sense of sorrow.

Mia was just about to look to another one when she read the inscription written on one particularly not well kempt.

It read:

 **Roy William Harper, Jr.**

 **1991-1995**

 **A young soul taken from this world too soon.**

She choked, staring at the dates.

"No, No! NO." The first was incredulous, the second scared, and the third angry.

Roy, Roy, he couldn't die so soon! That was impossible. There must be a mistake!

Before Mia could register the fact that she did not, in fact, know this boy, her head exploded.

…Figuratively, or course.

Her head exploded into pain. She got a rush of memories, Thea's entire life all at once. She fell to her knees with her hands pressing on her temples. The girl, not knowing if she was Thea or Mia, curled into a fetal position clutching her head, shacking with her tears.

The grounds keeper rushed up to her, lifting her until she was sitting. "Call down, honey, you're alright. Do you need a hospital?" He asked kindly.

The Thea Queen part of her took control, and, having been conditioned as an assassin and then as a vigilante, shook her head, while Mia shrieked "yes" internally.

The grounds keeper sighed and held her hand. "It gets better, don't worry." He glanced sadly at Roy's grave. "I'm glad someone finally came for the poor kid. Even though you don't look old enough to have met him, it's nice to know someone cares."

She forced out a weak smile to attempt to get the old man away.

Thea fought her way to the surface. "Excuse, as much as I like your help, could I have some time alone, please?" She said as politely as possible through her pain.

He nodded and walked away, thankfully.

Slowly, but surely, her head started to clear. She still felt Mia pushing in her subconscious, but Thea had a stronger mind and understood a little more about what was going on.

But even after gathering her thoughts she still could not comprehend this, that Roy had died so young. She must have reminded herself about ten times that this was not her world. He had been so little. In this world he never met Thea or Oliver. He never got to live the life he was meant to have.

Even Sin was gone without Roy and…Sara. Where was Sara? She must be alive again. And Oliver never went to the island in this universe. But did they have an affair? But he and Laurel were getting married.

She knew where four of the five were. Barry's life could be just as different as all of theirs, or not. She really had no idea.

Oliver had seemed just as weirded out about this life as she had yesterday morning so maybe they were all affected the same way. And it couldn't have been a coincidence that the day they come to the new world this universe's Diggle with her Diggle trapped inside decided to randomly sit next to Mia… or Thea…ugh.

Even with them so close they were so far. She was the only one conscious right now. Thea was alone in an unfamiliar world with no back up but herself.

She shook it off and wiped the tears that had rolled down her cheeks. She was the daughter of Malcolm Merlyn, that was true, but she was also the daughter of Moira Queen, and if there was one thing her mother taught her it was that the best tool was she, herself. And even if Thea was a Queen only in name she was still raised like one, and Queens don't give up.

She half ran home to the dingy apartment in the middle of The Glades. Carefully accessing Mia memories she remembered that her laptop was plugged in on her bed. She popped it open and immediately started to type into the search bar.

 **S.T.A.R. labs**

She skimmed the list quickly, getting a bunch of reports about the particle accelerator explosion and some people's theories about it causing all the crazy people with the powers. She thanked the lord that, just by chance, Iris's website popped up. It was mostly the same, stories about spottings of different super powers villains terrorizing the city.

The only thing, and it's sort of a big thing, that was missing was the Streak. No Barry?

Wait, not no Barry, no active Barry.

That sort of makes sense, she guessed.

No vigilante Oliver to inspire him=no Flash going public.

According to a few staff lists on the S.T.A.R. labs website Caitlin and Cisco still worked there, but so did Harrison Wells, who she had recently learned was a time traveling super pscho.

 **Barry Allen**

Oh thank god. Barry Allen alive and well.

He was still a forensic scientist at CCPD, but there was no record anywhere of him being hospitalized after the explosion, not that she had done much digging. His mom was still dead though, and his dad was still in prison. His life looked like she imagined it was before the explosion, simple, average, and awkward.

For her own personal benefit she searched:

 **Robert and Moira Queen's daughter**

Thea wasn't expecting what she found. Baby girl Queen had died at birth according to this article released on her birthday. There had been no speculation about her birth father, though.

Her eye caught something at the bottom of the page just before she searched something else.

"Close family friends of the Queens, the Merlyns, will also attend the funeral service of the baby to pay their respects to the grieving family"

Thea's eyes widened. Although that sounds like something a ten-year-old Tommy would have done for Ollie when they were kids, it wouldn't have been publicized. Even if Malcolm would have come they wouldn't have made much of a scene.

Her entire life it had never been the Merlyns and the Queens, it had been Tommy and Ollie, as well as business partners and fellow partygoers. As far as Thea knew it hadn't been that way when Rebecca was alive…

 **Rebecca Merlyn**

The search exploded.

"Second Chance program makes a difference in Glades homes"

"Merlyn Global at the top of charity events"

"Merlyn Clinic expands to charity organization"

In her universe when someone would look up Rebecca Merlyn the first thing they would get would be an article about her death, but no such this was found. Most of these articles were about times after her supposed death.

Thea immediately went next step.

 **Murder mugging, Glades, November 3, 1992 (A/N ? I read it was 1992 but still?)**

There was only one murder reported that night and it wasn't Rebecca Merlyn's.

A sob escaped Thea's mouth.

That murder was one of Marie Harper, Roy's mother. The case remained unsolved.

 **Death of Roy Harper, Glades**

She felt a swell in her thought as she swore to herself not to cry.

He was beat to death by his father three years after his mother was mugged.

 **A/N:Sorry about the shortness. Thea and Roy are some of my favorite characters so I wanted to do them justice, which I hope I did. Thea/Mia are both trying to fight for complete control for the body and Thea has a few of Mia's memories but not enough to function on. If you're wondering about Barry believe me I am too. I'm trying to imagine how his life would have worked without the Arrow and I'm not sure if I'm going to have him have powers and if in this world there's all this other crap and ugh. Sometimes this hurts my head to write. Oh, and Felicity doesn't work at QC, but I'm not sure if she lives in Starling at all yet. You're (and I) just gonna have to find out.**

 **Sorry about the messed up years most likely. The Arrow/Flash wiki gives some mixed signals, like Tommy and Oliver were born in 1985, but that makes Tommy only 7 when his mom dies in 1992 and I think he was 8? I don't know whatever. So whatever.**

 **Wow I'm really plowing through this story line. This is ridiculous. I'd say Happy 4th of July but I already said it last chapter...like this morning, Geez.**

 **REVIEW**

 **Lizzy**


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